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Sunday, December 6, 2015

UK: LSE condemns antisemitic display, a month later

On October 29th, the Palestinian Society at the London School of Economics held an exhibition to commemorate the deaths of Palestinians involved in terrorist attacks.

A month later, the university finally got around to condemning it. Better late than never. A similar exhibit was held at SOAS, University of London. Apparently it's acceptable over there.

The university, however, cannot straight out say that they condemn the celebration of killing Jews. It's an 'apparently' celebration of violence, that may be "unintended". And why is it wrong? Because it causes significant distress to some people.

The School was deeply troubled by the exhibition held by the Students’ Union Palestine Society in the Saw Swee Hock building in October 2015.

This is not a matter of free speech within the law, which the School is obliged to uphold across its premises: the law was not broken. Neither is it in itself a concern that offence was caused. The concern is that both the content of the exhibition and the manner in which it was displayed, together with related activities off campus and on social media, caused serious harm to relations between sections of our community on campus. The apparent celebration, even if unintended, of violence and perpetrators of violence caused significant distress to students who identify with victims of that violence.

As a university we are committed to encouraging the free exchange of ideas in an atmosphere of mutual respect. The School asks that all Students’ Union societies act with respect for the views and feelings of all their fellow students.